Background Menge District has long been inhabited by people who have a long tradition of using wild mushrooms mainly as food, source of income, and medicine. Extensive utilization of wild edible mushrooms (WEM) coupled with an ever-increasing population growth, deforestation, and agricultural land expansion threatens fungal diversity and WEM in the area. Hence, this study is aimed at documenting and analyzing the ethnomycological knowledge of the people in order to preserve the dwindling WEM wealth and associated indigenous knowledge. Methods Ethnomycological data were collected using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, participant observations, and walk-in-the-woods methods. Statistical tests were used to compare the indigenous knowledge and practice of wild mushroom among different informant categories using One-way ANOVA and t tests. Results A total of 20 ethnomycologically important wild mushroom species belonging to ten genera and six families were identified, of which 15 were reported to be edible in the District. The family Lyophyllaceae was represented by the highest number of species (nine species, 45%) followed by Agaricaceae (seven species, 35%) and each of the remaining four families had single species representation. Significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed on the mean number of WEM reported among different group of respondents. Wild edible mushroom collection habit and practice was significantly (P < 0.05) influenced by gender, age, and literacy level. The output of preference ranking exercise indicated Termitomyces schimperi was ranked first followed by Termitomyces letestui, Termitomyces microcarpus, and Termitomyces eurhizusas as the most preferred edible mushrooms respectively. Conclusion The present study shows that Menge District is rich in wild mushroom diversity and associated indigenous knowledge. However, anthropogenic factors together with loss of indigenous knowledge and very poor conservation efforts threaten the survival of economically and ecologically important mushrooms in the area. Thus, complementary in situ and ex situ mushroom conservation strategy is highly recommended.

Despite the extensive study on plant and animal biodiversity in Ethiopia microbial diversity in general and macrofungal diversity in particular is very limited. Thus, as part of the ongoing study on macrofungal diversity of the country, this is the first report on morphological and molecular taxonomy of the ge particular report, we identified seven Termitomyces Asossa Zone, Benshangul Gumuz region. Identification was based on morphological characteristics and partial LSU rDNA sequences. of each of our collection were supported with molecular investigation. Phylogenetic analysis of partial LSU rDNA sequences of 7 Ethiopian Parsimony measurements and Maximum Likelihood presented similar inferred trees that only had minor differences. Based on these phylogenetic analyses of the partial LSU rDNA sequences, 7 species of Termitomyces were identified as eurrhizus, T. letestui, T. microcarpus, T. robustus cladogram revealed both Asian and African demonstrated a well-supported monophyletic group with bootstrap value of 99%. Moreover, the monophyletic tree from pure Ethiopian African and Asian Termitomyces samples suggested their common origin. However incorporating more samples, more DNA markers and extensive analyses may reveal the true link among the sequences from different region used for culinary purposes by the native community and few of them ( clypeatus) are used for treatment of indigestion and malnutrition.

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SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is an unparalleled challenge for the international community. Subsequently, an extraordinary effort has been made to contain SARS-CoV-2. However, this has been largely limited to behavioral changes and vaccination. To make the containment strategies effective, behavioral changes and vaccination need to be complemented with alternative prevention methods and curative treatments. This work reports the antiviral properties of some of the commonly known edible medicinal plants that can be used as potential remedies to suppress coronaviruses. A growing body of evidence substantiates that edible medicinal plants with antiviral properties that have been proven effective against sibling coronaviruses likely contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, and they may also suppress the fatality of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). The secondary metabolites found in herbal medicines do not cause pathogens to develop drug resistance, which is a common problem in conventional medicines. The use of edible medicinal plants is much safer and causes less panic, thereby avoiding the fear associated with the use of herbal medicines. Right dosages and mixtures of edible medicinal plants need to be rigorously investigated to circumvent unanticipated side effects and chronic health risks.